Organization
The first, very general impression is that all operational people (planning and scheduling people
and production people) are indeed more aware of the material flow. The production people
understand better how their decisions influence the synchronization of the subsequent production
steps. The SCCG people, in making their short term planning, are more aware of the scheduling
consequences. The short term plan is closer to execution than before. Before it was the output of
rather mechanistic MRP type calculations. In-attractive scheduling consequences were discussed
of course, but only if the people of the DPSG group asked for adaptations. The sku allocation
through the excel LP-solver makes a decision routine necessary that is not embedded in SAP.
Downloading, allocation and uploading necessitate a well maintained script. The distance between the SCCG group and the floor is smaller and the role of the DPSG group is smaller with
respect to liquid production and packaging. Working in cycles with a week pattern that starts on
Friday complicates the DPSG task a little. They have to upload the production runs of two
subsequent cycles (Monday to Thursday of one cycle and Friday to Sunday of the next one) to
SAP, because SAP works with calendar weeks.
An important change that is not completely coupled with the pilot, but that is certainly inspired
by it, is the introduction of the daily production meeting (DPM). It helped to implement cyclic
production, but it is also used to make the communication in general more effective and to
activate the problem solving potential.
All operational people are asked about their experiences and opinions regarding all changes.
These are in general positive. But it is hard to determine what the contribution is of the
individual elements cyclic production, 5-shift system and DPM.
The packaging line works in a 5-shift system now. They are expected to be able to follow
centrifugation rather closely, to keep the flow time between centrifugation and packaging stable.
The production speed ratios of packaging and the other resources depend on blend and box size.
It necessitates a high flexibility of the packaging line. This turns out to be difficult for the
packaging operators. There are many small stops now. That is perceived as a problem by the
packaging people. As long as the stops are not longer than half an hour, it does not lead to
quality problems.